ClipFlow

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ClipFlow is a native, privacy-first clipboard manager for macOS. It keeps your clipboard history local, makes it easy to find past clips, and is designed for fast keyboard-driven workflows.

In Simplified Chinese, the app is presented as 拾笺.

Highlights

• Capture and restore text, rich text, links, files, images, PDFs, and other supported pasteboard representations.
• Search clipboard history and browse it by content type, favorites, links, files, images, browser tabs, and custom categories.
• Open a floating clipboard panel with Command + Shift + V, then paste, favorite, rename, categorize, preview, or delete an item without leaving the keyboard.
• Use type-specific actions such as paste file, paste file path, show in Finder, open links, copy domains, and full preview.
• Choose original-format or plain-text paste behavior.
• Optionally browse and activate tabs from Safari, Google Chrome, and Microsoft Edge.
• Encrypt clipboard metadata with SQLCipher and encrypt large local payload files separately.
• Deduplicate repeated clipboard captures and keep the history list responsive with bounded loads and static time labels.
• Run entirely on your Mac: no accounts, advertising, analytics, telemetry, or cloud clipboard processing.

Screenshots

Clipboard history	File actions

Settings	First-run guide

Image preview	Browser tabs

Privacy and Permissions

Clipboard data is stored locally. ClipFlow requests optional macOS permissions only when a related feature needs them:

• Accessibility lets ClipFlow automatically paste into the previously active app. Without it, ClipFlow restores the clipboard and you can paste manually.
• Automation is required only if you enable browser-tab integration; browser control stays on your Mac.
• Launch at Login is optional.

Ad-hoc test builds are not notarized. On another Mac, the first launch may require System Settings -> Privacy & Security -> Open Anyway. Automatic paste also needs the app to be enabled in System Settings -> Privacy & Security -> Accessibility.

Requirements

• macOS 14 Sonoma or later
• Swift 6.2 toolchain
• Homebrew, only when bootstrapping the local SQLCipher development libraries

Downloading a Test Build

For GitHub Releases, use the DMG when sharing with friends:

1. Download ClipFlow-<version>-macos.dmg.
2. Open the DMG and drag ClipFlow.app to Applications.
3. Launch ClipFlow from Applications.
4. If macOS blocks it, open System Settings -> Privacy & Security and choose Open Anyway.

The ZIP asset contains the same app bundle and is mainly useful for direct archive testing.

Build from Source

git clone git@github.com:osbrain/ClipFlow.git
cd ClipFlow

./scripts/bootstrap-dev-deps.sh
swift build
swift run ClipFlowCoreTests

Package a locally ad-hoc-signed app:

./scripts/package-app.sh debug
open artifacts/ClipFlow.app

For a release configuration, use:

./scripts/package-app.sh release
./scripts/package-dmg.sh

The packaged app and DMG are written to artifacts/.

Contributing

Issues and pull requests are welcome. Please keep changes focused, include relevant tests where practical, and do not add network services, analytics, or remote clipboard processing without prior discussion.

License

ClipFlow is available under the PolyForm Noncommercial License 1.0.0. It permits personal and other non-commercial use, modification, and distribution, but prohibits commercial use.

This is a source-available project, not OSI-approved open source: OSI open-source licenses must allow commercial use. See LICENSE for the complete terms.